I Need...(Chapter 3)

She felt more comfortable with him than she'd ever felt with a
man. His body was warm and hard against her slim body. To her,
it seemed as if their bodies were meant to be together. Chloe
felt good to have a friend. Someone to hug without him trying
to feel all over her like she was just some slut. Was she a
slut for all she'd done?

"Feeling better?" he asked, still rubbing my back gently.

Of course she felt better. It wasn't like everyday she got
hugged by a man that was only trying to comfort her. How could
she not feel better? "A little," she said, lying right through
he teeth. She felt completely better. She just didn't admit it.
She didn't want the hug to end. Just having someone's arms
around her made her feel very good.

Chloe hugged him closer, loving the feeling of his muscular
body against hers. Only in a comforting way though. Elmo let
out a soft snicker. "I think maybe your enjoying this hug a
little too much."

Her face turned crimson with embarrassment. Lucky, he couldn't
see it because it was against his chest. When she thought her
color was back, she let him go and he let her go. Having his
body away from hers, no longer giving her heat made her feel
so…cold.

"Wanna talk about why you do what you do? The prostituting?"

She bit her lip. He was her friend and all but she didn't like
talking about the prostitution thing. It was too embarrassing
and uncomfortable to talk about. All the things she'd done with
all those different people. How could she talk about that? "I'm
sorry but I don't wanna talk about it." She brushed light brown
hair behind her ears and looked up at Elmo.

He shook his head with understanding. He could never really
understand completely until she told him something about it but
until then, he pretend to understand. Instead, he just changed
the subject. "Where do you live?"

The question of the hour. Oh, she didn't want to tell him that
at all. He was sure to tell her she had to go home. She didn't
want to go home at all. She wanted to be somewhere warm, safe,
secure, relaxed and cozy. She wanted to be with Elmo. She
hadn't even been there for the long and already she knew that
she wanted to live under his roof.

"I-uh…don't have a place to live," I stuttered the lie.

"You should go into a shelter or something. You can't be
outside at night sleeping just anywhere. Where do you sleep at
night?"

He cares? Someone actually cares about her? How great! "I
sleep, uh…in the guys houses that I prostitute. Some are nice
enough to let me stay." That lie made her feel so bad.

"You stay here for the night and tomorrow we'll get you into a
shelter," he explained.

She couldn't let him make the decision to let her go into a
shelter. She was on a role with her lies. She had to make up a
lie to change his mind about making her go into a shelter. "I
can't go into a shelter," she blurted out.

"Why not?" he folded his arms across his chest.

"Because umm…" She couldn't think of any lie to say. Not even
one. But the truth, she could say. She sighed. "I wanna be here
with you."

He arched a brow. "What?" Through his word, she felt rejection.
But she still continued with her explanation.

"Your like the only person that actually cares about me. Everyone
else, at home, school and on the streets want something from me
the moment they see me. You're the only person that would ever
give me a hug that really meant something. Something that makes
me feel…happy. I don't want to go into a shelter. I don't want to
go home. I just want to be here where I know their's some sort
of…protection from the world or something. Please, let me stay. I
promise I won't be any disturbance to you or your regular life.
Please, Elmo I'm begging you."